Insight with Chris Van Vliet - AskCVV #15 - When Will Roman Reigns Lose The Title, Early Royal Rumble Picks, Iron Claw, Favorite Interview of 2023

Episode Date: December 22, 2023

Happy Holidays and welcome back to another #AskCVV episode where Chris answers your burning questions from Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. We got some great questions about wrestling, Roman Reigns, The Iron Claw, content creation and everything in between on this one. If you have one that you want answered on the next one, send it in using the hashtag #AskCVV! Quote I'm thinking about: "If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change." Wayne Dyer Sponsors: FITBOD: Get 25% off when you use the code INSIGHT at http://fitbod.me/INSIGHT ZBIOTICS: Get 15% off with the code CVV and have a better morning after you drink at http://zbiotics.com/cvv MYBOOKIE: Bet on WWE! Get up to $200 cash bonus when you use the code CVV and sign up at http://mybookie.ag BLUECHEW: Use the code CVV to get your first month of BlueChew for FREE at http://bluechew.com GHOSTBED: Get 40% of your purchase with the code CVV at http://ghostbed.com/cvv MIRACLE MADE: Upgrade your sleep with Miracle Made! Go to http://TryMiracle.com/CVV and use the code CVV to claim your FREE 3 PIECE TOWEL SET and SAVE over 40% OFF PLUNGE: Get $150 off your Plunge with the coupon code CVV150 at http://plunge.com BONCHARGE: Go to http://boncharge.com/CVV and use coupon code CVV to save 25% For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests.  Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All systems are go. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van. Oh, it is so good to see you, my friends. Welcome back to another one here on Insight. I'm CVV, Chris Van Fleet. Hope you're doing it. Well, welcome to Ask CVV number 15. And I say it all the time, but if you're here on an AskCTVV episode,

this is how I know you're a real one. So I appreciate you for being here. If you haven't yet, please hit that follow button or that subscribe button wherever you're listening. It blows my mind when I look at the analytics to see that the vast majority, like 75% of people who listen to the show, haven't actually hit that follow button. I know you're a real one because you're here on an AskCTV episode. So if you thought you were subscribed, you thought you were following the show, but you haven't

yet, go take a look right now, check to see. and if you're not, oh my goodness, just hit that follow button because it helps the show more than I could possibly explain. And as the show continues to get bigger, the guests will keep getting bigger. And man, I'm so excited for what we have in store for 2024. If it's your first time here in an Ask CVV episode, first of all, welcome, take your coat off, stay a while. I do these once or twice a month where I directly answer your questions that you've sent to me on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, all of the social medias. That's weird, right? Media is already plural. So to say medias doesn't make any sense. Medium is the singular. Medias, the plural. But I answer

your questions. Sent in using the hashtag Ask CVV. And we're covering a whole array of topics here. You saw on the title, you know, some of the big topics that we're going to talk about here, but we will cover anything here. So if you have a question for the next one, which will be Ask CVV-16, send it in using that hashtag, Ask CVV. So let's dive right into this.

Kevin Cox, who's at Kevin Cox 31 on Instagram, says, who is your final four of the men's Royal Rumble? Ooh. Look, it is so hard to make Royal Rumble predictions when you're more than a month out. So here we are in the middle of December.

It's really hard because I don't feel like things are really shaping up for the Rumble, really any year until like the last two-ish weeks. But my early prediction, early prediction for the Men's Royal Rumble would be Final Four. I'm thinking Cody, Gunther, L.A. Knight, yeah, and CM Punk. and if I had to pick a winner right now, again, very early prediction and, you know, probably going to get this wrong and then someone's going to tag me in this and be like, oh, remember what you said in December about the Royal Rumble? I would have to guess it's Cody.

And here's my explanation for that. I think that the odds on favor right now. If you go to my bookie.orgie.orgie. And of course, use this promo code CVV when you sign up to get a cash bonus. But like there's odds, right? for all of these WWEPLEs. The odds on favorite right now is CM Punk. What I think's going to happen,

and again, early prediction, I think CM Punk's going to be in the match and someone's going to cost him the match, which is then going to lead to, I would think at this point in time, a match with CM Punk and Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 40. So I think that CM Punk goes in there

has a great showing, but someone like hurts that opportunity and then he goes off, on a separate side quest mission to avenge that, which then leads to WrestleMania. That's my prediction. I think Cody winning back-to-back Royal Rumbles just sends such a statement that like, Cody is our guy. And yes, Roman Raines at this moment has the championship, but, you know, Roman Raines is not going to be around forever.

And Roman Raines hasn't been defending that title. You know, he hasn't had a lot of matches in the last year. Cody's a workhorse. And I think that Cody winning that and then having some sort of hard times, like the dusty storyline, maybe elimination chamber or something leading into WrestleMania, then I still think, again, it's December of 2023. I still think it's Cody Rhodes walking out of WrestleMania 40 with that championship. But I guess we'll see. You didn't ask, but I will give you my final four for the women's Royal Rumble 2. and these are just this is a shot in the dark all of this is but i would go nia jacks rakel rodriguez

becky lynch ioskyy oh sky really hard to pick a winner there but if we're going to have to if we're going to make an real early prediction i'll go rickle and we'll see what happens here which actually this all leads us into the next question here so thank you for that question kevin this one's from the great corbinie on instagram when do you think roman rains will finally drop the title. He's held it for so long at this point, I think he's going to break San Martino's record. So he will break Sam Martino's first record, right? So if you look at the breakdown here, San Martino has the number one record and the number three record, right? I think that's the way it goes. So he will break San Martino's first record if he just holds the title to January 19th. So if he

holds this until a week before Royal Rumble, boom, he's right there, he's number three. That is happening. So he breaks one of San Martino's record. Then the next record in front of that is Hulk Hogan's record of 1,474 days. And by the way, as this episode is coming out, Roman Raines has held the title for 1,2009 days. So this would be another 260-something days. So if he were to break Hogan's record, that would take him to September 12th. So that would mean going through WrestleMania and then into the fall. As I just said in my last answer, I don't see that happening. I feel like the storyline goes to WrestleMania. But if Roman Reins retains at WrestleMania, then I don't know what happens. WrestleMania 41? WrestleMania 49? I really don't know. I

think the Bruno San Martino record that you were talking about, like the big, big record would be having him hold the belt. Oh, my goodness. It's like till 2028 or something like that. Let me, let me see here. I can sort of break, yeah, to break Bruno's record, 2,8003 days, the big record you're talking about. out, he would have to hold the title. Roman Reins would hold the title till May 3rd, 2028, which would mean that he would hold the title through WrestleMania 44. Wow. I don't see that one happening. So to answer your question, yeah, he breaks one of San Martino's record, but he doesn't break the big record. Real possible, though, that he breaks Hulk Hogan's record. So,

This will be so interesting to see what happens. So again, Bruno San Martino's the big record, 2,8003 days. Hulk Hogan, 1,474 days. Then San Martino, 1,237 in third place. And now we got Roman at 1,209 days and counting. So it's just a matter of time here. It's just a matter of less than a month until he breaks the Bruno record and moves into third place. But I just, there's no way.

right? And you never say never in wrestling. But could Roman Raines hold this for another four and a half years? Yeah, I just don't see that. But great question. Cassie Beeve, zero zero seven on Twitter says, since the year is almost over, happy holidays, by the way. What was your favorite interview of 2023? Oh, man. Picking your favorite interview is always so difficult. It's like picking your favorite child. Thankfully, I only have one child now. So my favorite child is my daughter, Logan. That's just so easy. But it was such a great year. Like such a great year of like so many fun moments, so many firsts. Like I interviewed the Undertaker for the first time this year. Certainly one of my favorite interviews, Mark, if you will, he's the Undertaker, but he was very much Mark in that

interview. So, so nice. And what a great conversation we had. So that's definitely one of them. I just had a graphic made. You're going to see this next week of my top 10 episodes of the year in terms of downloads. So I'll give you a little sneak peek here. You're going to see this. Some of these are actually pretty surprising to me. And some of them are like, oh, yeah, of course. So my number one episode in terms of most downloaded, most listened to, we're just talking about the audio here because the podcast. The most listened to episode of the year was my Chris Jericho interview, which is crazy because it just came out two weeks ago. And it's number one by a large margin. So super grateful to Chris for coming to the studio and doing that interview with me. But the fact that that interview

from just a few weeks ago is number one is crazy to me. Number two, Hulk Hogan. Number three, Cody Rhodes. Number four, L.A. Knight. Yeah. number five, Jonathan Coachman. And again, these are the most downloaded episodes of the year, the most listened to. Number six, Becky Lynch. Number seven, Rick Flair. Number eight, The Undertaker. Number nine, Mike Kyoto.

Number 10, Baron Corbyn. It's a heck of a top ten list. My favorite interviews of the year are definitely in there. Like an hour with Hulk Hogan and just to be able to pick his brain and spend some time and have him tell stories. and for anybody that actually has listened to it, it may be his most honest interview that he's ever done. Like most in-depth interview he's done about just wrestling in general. So if you haven't listened to it, I would say go give that a listen.

If there's any of these you haven't listened to that I just listed off there. Go give him a listen after this episode. L.A. Knight, I've known him for years. You might remember the interview I did with Eli Drake, yeah, four years ago when he got released from, Impact Wrestling or when he left Impact Wrestling. And we've kept in touch ever since. And to see the rise, the meteoric rise he had this year and to see the fans get behind him, and that was so exciting. The Jonathan Coachman won. Another great one. I've known coach for a long

time and for him to be so gracious with his time and inviting me to the beautiful setting that we did at the country club where him and his son play golf. We live like not that far from each other, maybe like half an hour from each other. So to be able to do that. And look, I'm not trying to give you a story about every interview that's in my top 10 here. But all of these are, they mean something to me in different ways. And I love them for different reasons. But I'll give you one more, the Cody Rhodes interview, because we did that in Atlanta. We did that right before the premiere of his movie or his documentary that you saw in Peacock. And to be able to join him on his bus, and just to be able to chat for 25 minutes.

I hadn't done an interview with Cody since right before double or nothing. So we're going way back here, May 2019. A ton has changed in both of our lives, but personally and professionally, but to think where Cody was in May of 2019, to think where he was in July of 2023 when we did this interview, it was a good catch-up. and also just I love the way that Cody approaches the business.

An underrated handshake too, by the way. He has just such a great, like a big, meaty, mussely hand. And I answered this a few asked CVVs ago. And someone was like, who has a great handshake? Cody Rose and also John Cena. But Cody Rhodes has this great handshake. And I just love the way he approaches the business. And he does so many things behind the scenes that I don't think people see.

The way he interacts with fans and he creates special moments for them. ton of respect for Cody Rhodes. And keep an eye out because I think we're going to be doing a newer, longer interview in the new year. So I would say, you know, sometime before WrestleMania. Keep an eye out for that one. So there's some of my favorites. And also, you'll see the image that I just listed off to you of the top 10 episodes of the year. Some of those are pretty surprising, right? And some of them are like, yeah, I can totally see that. This episode is brought to you by Bond Charge, and I have been loving their infrared sauna blanket. And if this holiday season you're wanting to burn some more calories to help with weight,

or if you're wanting to detoxify after indulging in one too many holiday treats, check out the infrared sauna blanket from Bond Charge. It works by raising your heart rate to that of physical exercise, so you're burning calories while you relax. You can burn up to 600 calories in just one session. And all that sweating helps to flush out heavy metals and other toxins. The thing I love about the sauna blanket is it's so easy to set up. It takes less than a minute to set up, then boom, it heats up rapidly.

And then you're sitting there, 30 to 40 minutes while you're laxing, reading, watching wrestling, whatever it happens to be, and you're burning calories the whole time. You can save 25% this holiday season, which is a savings of over $170 on the sauna blanket by going to bondcharge.com slash CVV and then the 25% off code will automatically be applied to your quarter. This deal is hot. See what I did there?

It's a sauna blanket? This deal is hot. Go to bondcharge.com slash CVV to save over $170 this holiday season on that infrared sauna blanket. Andy Gibson TV on Twitter. Andy says, what was the atmosphere like

in the arena when Brock Lesnar pin the Undertaker at WrestleMania 30. Can you describe the feeling in the air when Chad Patton tapped the canvas for the final time fulfilling a successful three count? I won't speak for everybody that was in the arena, but I think we thought it was a mistake. Because look, the Undertaker going into WrestleMania

felt like a foregone conclusion. Like, yeah, it's going to be a fun, entertaining match, and the Undertaker will win because that's what had happened so many times before that. So I think that that match was going on. I think that everybody in the crowd was just kind of like waiting for the Undertaker to win. And then when he got hit with that F5 and it was like, one, two, three, what? Wait. And it just went silent. And I think you nailed it when you said, like the air got sucked out of the place. Everyone was just kind of looking around because

if you remember and if you watch this back, it's one, two, three. And it's not like, Brock's music hits immediately. It's one, two, three, ding, ding, ding, and then there's just silence. And then it takes a little while. And then the winners announced and then the music plays. So it's like it just, it was all, it was, I know, I know exactly why they did it because it got the reaction that we got there of like, okay. Yeah, this is, here's the shock of this thing you never thought was going to ever happen.

and just happened. But I remember what was so weird about it is, like we were just all kind of like stewing on that. We were just sitting on that for so long. That was the second last match. After that was the women's match. It was the Vicki Guerrero invitational match. If you remember that for the Divas Championship.

So like A.J. Lee and Bree Bella and Alicia Fox, Emma, you know, a bunch of people, a huge, you know, a ton of people in that match. I just remember nobody like focusing on that match because they still couldn't believe what had happened. And this is kind of like in a similar way. Like so this was the third last match in a similar way that Rock Hogan was the third last match.

Then you had a match after that. Then you had the main event. And it was like that whole time, people just couldn't believe it. And I think that like for 10 or 15 minutes, even more after that, people could not believe it, even when we saw, you know, the number, like the streak had been beaten and they put the number up on the Titan Tron. Like, I just don't think that people wanted to believe it. So I just remember a lot of confusion and like silence, but definitely like, definitely confusion with everything that had gone on there. But I can't believe I was there. I've been to a ton of WrestleMania, but that was one of those

moments I will never forget in New Orleans. And then the next day, I got to interview Hulk Hogan. And it was the first, yeah, first interview I did with Hul Cogan. And it was so cool to be able to chat with him. And it was like very quick and maybe seven, eight minutes long. But it was so cool to be able to talk to him. And he actually said that Undertaker had been taken to the hospital because of a concussion. and it was so funny because after that, and I've never revealed this before, WWE was like, oh, that's not like public information. Could you edit that part out of the interview? So if you look at the interview on YouTube, you'll see there's a picture that comes up

to cover something they were saying about that match because we edited that part out. So 21 and 1, the streak's broken. That goes up on the screen. That's kind of when it's set in for everybody. but it was so interesting that there was like this element after that of, oh yeah, Undertaker also got injured in this match. And that wasn't like a thing.

That wasn't revealed until years later. But funny that Hogan said that to me. And I was like, ooh, hey, no, probably shouldn't have said that. But I've definitely a cool moment. One of, I've been to 12 WrestleMania, 13 WrestleMania's. And that's one of the ones I will never forget. And then, of course, the main event, Yesselmania.

I remember the confetti. pouring down on us, raining down on us and snapping photos with my friends as like confetti was like falling on us. It was cool. And WrestleMania in New Orleans is just so fantastic. Everything's like within just a few blocks and Bourbon streets right there for all the fun activities and the wrestlers are partying on Bourbon Street, which is wild. You'll be walking down Bourbon Street and you're like, oh, is that? I mean, I remember seeing RVD. Oh, is that RVD? And the crowd starts chanting, RVD, RVD. So it's, the hotels are right there, the stadiums right there, Bourbon streets right there. Yeah, it's, it's hard. It's hard to beat a WrestleMania in New Orleans.

Kirby Rachel on Instagram says, would you or have you tried to get Stephen Amel on your podcast? He's big into wrestling with several appearances in WWE and with his show heels. Please get him on. So I've interviewed him before. I interviewed him for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2. There's a quick snippet of that. I asked him about the stuff he was doing with Cody at that time. We're going way back with this, what, 2018 that would have been? 2017, I think it was.

So you can check out that clip. I tried so hard to get him to be a guest when he was doing everything with Heal Season 1 and Heal Season 2. And it just didn't work out. And I'm happy to do like the four or five minute interview when we run them on the TV station that I freelance for, KLAS. CBS station in Las Vegas. But to really dive in deep with Stephen Amel about his fandom of wrestling and his training for wrestling and everything that went on around his match with Cody and then everything that he did with Christopher Daniels at all in, I would want like a full on episode, like a usual episode of insight, which would be 40, 45 minutes an hour or something like that.

And that just hasn't happened. Certainly wanted to happen. And I certainly wanted to happen. And I know it will at some point in time, but it just hasn't happened yet. So that's something that I'm looking forward to making happen. I chatted with him briefly. I went to the premiere for heels. What did that have been? 2020, man, 2020 or 2021,

went to the like premiere in, I think it was 2021 because it was an actual red carpet and the world felt a little bit normal. Actually, let me look. We have all the world's information here, in front of us. So let's see. Heels, season one L.A. Premier. It was, oh yeah, so it was the summer of 2021. I chatted with him there. He's a fellow Canadian, which is always a great thing to, like, connect on. But it just didn't happen. So the answer, yes, this is going to happen at some point in time. I just don't know when. Franklin R. 73.

And we're speaking of premieres here. I saw the video of you and John Sina on the red carpet for the Iron Claw. I couldn't quite make out what he was saying to you. What did you two talk about? That was really cool to see him there. And we were actually texting before that because I've been trying to set up an interview with him. And when he came back to wrestling while the actor strike was still going on, we were talking. I'm like, look, you've got some time on your hands.

Could we do an interview? He's like, yes, but I'd actually like to do it. when I have something to promote because he has some movies coming out in the new year. So when I saw him, he saw me on the red carpet at Iron Claw. And that was the same one where he had that moment with MJF and Baron Corbin was there and Liv Morgan was there. He just came up to me and you can kind of make it out in one of the videos and he's like, what can I do to help you?

Like we talked about doing an interview and I'm in town for such a brief period of time. I have a few minutes right now. What can I do? And I said, well, could we take a picture? He's like, yeah, of course we could take a picture. So we went and we took a picture and we just briefly chatted there. And I think one of the things you can hear him say, look, John Cena's the best. But one of the things you can hear him say is congrats on all your success.

And I'm like, oh my gosh. Like, thank you. Congrats on my success. Congrats to you, John Cena on all of your success. So he said we will definitely make this interview happen. Quarter one of the new year, he's got some stuff coming out. And he's like, hit me up and we will make this happen. So I don't know when, but quarter one means January, February, or March.

So at some point in January, February or March, the man that you cannot see, the invisible man will be on the show. So really cool. And it was also cool watching him have that moment with MJF. Because John Cena is making his way down the red carpet. and there was a handful of people that were waiting there to say hello to him, some of his friends and obviously his co-workers and Baron Corbyn and Liv Morgan. And MJF was waiting there to like say hello.

And then you saw the moment that I actually, I shot that on my iPhone, that video that's been shared all over the place. Yeah, that was pretty cool. Very curious what this means for both of them. Who knows? Oh, another Iron Clockwell. question. Mitchell Lynch on Instagram says, do you think the Iron Claw will change the public perception of wrestling being fake? I don't know if that public perception will ever change,

unfortunately. And as wrestling fans, you know, we know, we get it, right? Wrestling is no different than a movie or a TV show or a Broadway show. I just don't think that public perception unfortunately will ever change. It sucks. I think the Iron Claw will give people a deeper appreciation for how wrestling works. And if you saw the wrestler when it came out 15 years ago, you know how much that helped to change people's perception of like just how much goes into it and how much the performers eat and breathe and sleep and bleed this business. So I think that it'll change that. I don't think it'll change anything about being fake. Like I just think that unfortunately there's a lot of ignorant people that don't see the similarities between a script

for a TV show and a script for a wrestling show. And it's just so ignorant to say like, oh, it's fake. It's one take. It's men and women putting their bodies on the line in one shot, one opportunity to do this live in front of thousands of people. There's no explaining it to those people. So I think that the Iron Claw is going to be received very well. The reviews that have come out for it are fantastic. It's like a 96% I think on Rotten Tomatoes. But I don't think those people have made up their minds. And they don't understand, they don't understand what they're saying. So I don't care. None of that really matters. Jake does musicals on Instagram. Let me take a little sip here of my F3 energy. Use the code C. V3.

at F3energy.com to say 15% of course. Jake does musicals on Instagram says, what's your favorite entrance theme for working out? Mine is Triple H. I'm with you. I'm going to go Triple H, not just the game, but also, one two, is this a one? The My Time song, oh, so good. And yes, by the way, that's one, two, is this on?

One, two, is this a one? I think that people, I have various different interpretations of what's being said there, but yes, it's actually one, two. Like he's checking the mic. Like, one, two? Is this on? So that, at Cody Rhodes, I, I listen to Kingdom quite a bit.

Although I'm also, also one of those psychopaths that listens to podcasts while I left weights. That's probably the thing I'm listening to the most. I'm listening to podcasts. And I, this is going to be shocking. I don't listen to a wrestling podcast. I've mostly listened to, I listen to a lot of interview shows. But I'd say the ones I'm listening to the most right now. our Diary of a CEO.

That's Stephen Bartlett's show. He's a fantastic conversationalist, a fantastic interviewer. I love listening to his show. Lewis Howes, School of Greatness. He also has such great guests and such great interviews. I listen to Joe Rogan, depending on who's on the show,

like the interview they recently did with The Rock, I thought was really, really good. So that's what I'm listening to the most to the gym. But yeah, if it's wrestling themes, Triple H or Cody Rhodes. Those are the top ones for me. chair shot sports that's on twitter says what's starting a podcast what are some of the best ways to connect with wrestlers and talent for interviews here's the absolute best way to do it because they're being

hit up in dms and on emails all the time go to your local show i'm sure there's a local wrestling promotion that runs somewhere close to where you live wherever you happen to live go to the show and speak to the wrestlers and speak to the promoter face to face. Tell them who you are. Tell them what you're about. Lead with value. What is the value that you can bring? How many downloads does your show get?

How many followers do you have on Twitter, Instagram, whatever? What's the value that you can give to them in exchange for their very valuable time that they will be giving to you? But the best way to do this is meet up with these people in person. and anybody who is willing to say yes, do an interview with them and build from there. So instead of going, oh, man, I want to talk to the Undertaker in Stone Cold Steve Austin, but they won't respond to my DMs. Start with what's in front of you. Start with the opportunities that you have and build from there.

And if it's not a local independent wrestling show, go to an autograph signing and just get in front of as many people as you can. And yeah, you're going to hear a lot of nose. But eventually, you're going to hear a yes. And everybody's favorite subject to talk about is themselves, especially in the world of pro wrestling. So you will eventually find someone who's like, you want to do an interview with me? Heck yeah. Let's make it happen right now. So chair shot sports, best of luck with that.

And yeah, just go out and just go out and try to find as many opportunities as you can. The under bearer 97 says, sell me on full-time creator. I always see you talking about it or posting about it. And I would love to be a creator for my job, but why should I join full-time creator? I've never been much of a salesman. And you're saying, sell me on full-time creator. So I'm not great at sales. But what I will say is, if you are a creator or you want to be a creator, it's really hard to do it.

on your own. And what I do with full-time creator is I'm giving you access to me and all of the knowledge that I have and all of the things that I've learned over my 12 years as a YouTuber, over my 18 years as a professional broadcaster, over my five years as a podcaster, and I'm giving it to you. So you don't have to fumble along the way and try to figure it out for yourself. And I always see, like terrible YouTube titles or just atrocious YouTube thumbnails. And there's such easy fixes. And I feel like people will just like fumble their way along with like, oh, my videos only get six views. Well, yeah, it's because your thumbnails are garbage. And these titles make no sense. And that's such an easy, quick fix that I feel like nobody's just pointed you in the right

direction. So what I'm trying to do with full-time creator is point you in the right direction. And I had to figure this all out of my own. This was trial and error as I went. I had nobody holding my hand through this. I was, I mean, I originally started on YouTube in 2007. I was like really early to the game. And I didn't know what I was doing.

Just figured it out and saw what worked and continued to go with that. So what I'm trying to do with full-time creator is point you in the right direction and help you not make the same mistakes that I did. And then as a result, when you're making less mistakes, you doing more things right. And then you're on your way to being a full-time creator, which I am so grateful to be able to say that I am now. So I'm not going to sell you on it, but that's what full-time creator is all about. And if you're interested, go to full-time creator.co, sign up for a dollar. It's a dollar. And it's not a huge investment. It's a dollar.

So go and sign up, see if it's for you. We've got an amazing community of people. who are at various different stages of their journey, who are part of full-time creator, and we want to help. So if that's something that sounds interesting to you, even just a little bit, go to full-timecreator.co, and go check it out. So I will see you there, the underbearer 97.

Hefe, who is at Berto A. Santiago on Twitter, what's the best way to support you, Chris? I think the best way is, what I've been talking about a lot in the intro for all of these podcasts for the last month or so, if you listen to the show and you haven't yet followed the show, it would just be so awesome if you could support me just by clicking follow. I'm not asking for your money. I'm just asking you to click follow wherever you're listening to the show. Same with YouTube. The numbers are staggering of how many people, especially on my CVV clips channel, how many people watch videos but aren't

subscribed. It's like, it's in the 90%. Like, I think the amount of people that subscribe is like nine percent. Just, just hit subscribe. I don't know why people treat it like, oh, my precious, like you only have a certain amount of subscriptions or likes that you can give out. If you want to support, it's not just me. If you want to support any creator, follow their podcast wherever you listen to podcasts. Follow them on all their social media accounts. These are all free things. Everything I'm listing off here. is free. None of the things I'm saying would support me are Patrions or or PayPal's or nothing like that. These are all absolutely free things. Subscribe to their YouTube channels and share these episodes.

That's it. Those are the best ways to support any creator. If you want to take it one level up, yeah, buy their merch. I've got a few t-shirts at pro wrestling teas.com slash Chris Van Vleet. You can go buy those. buy a shoutout on Cameo. I've got cameo. So if that's, if that's interesting to you, if that's how you would like to spend your money, those are opportunities for you and those are options for you. But the best way is to do all those free things. And they're so simple. And maybe it's because they're so simple that people overlook them, but those are the most important things you can do for any creator. So thank you, Heffi, for that question. And if you're following the show, please. Let's write that wrong right now. And hit follow. Peter Bahi

at PSB-H-A-B-S-B-S-B-A-H-I on Twitter. I don't see any papers in front of you when you're doing your interviews. Were you always this good at memorizing what you're going to ask? And is there times when you move away from your, quote, script when the interview goes in another direction? So what I usually do is I make like just notes of some of the topic. that I want to cover. So, you know, we've got an hour or so with whoever the guest happens to be. I've got notes of, like, just point form notes of some of the things I want to talk about. Maybe some big matches or big moments or something like that. They're not like pages of notes. It's just more of like general knowledge. And then I, you will see. So I've got like a little,

just a little sheet of paper. I usually put it like on my lap or maybe underneath my leg when I'm sitting down in the studio or if I'm in the Las Vegas studio, you'll see it on, like right next to me there on the desk. So I do have notes, but I very rarely will reference them. And if I do, I'm hopefully doing it when the camera's not pointed on me. And it's really just like, oh, I forgot to ask about this. We're 40 minutes in this interview. Are there any more topics we should cover in the last 20-ish minutes or so? That's usually what it is. In terms of, are there times when you move away from your script, when the interview goes in another direction, there's really no script. It's like, if we got an hour, I'm hoping we cover these eight or 10 or 12 or 15 topics or

whatever it happens to be. And I'm willing to follow the conversation wherever it goes. I try to always think of interviews as conversations. And when I think of a conversation, I think of it in terms of like, if you bumped into this person at the grocery store or you happen to be at a party and they were also there, you would be in the moment. You would be in the moment. you'd be focused, you'd be listening to what they're saying, and you'd be reacting to the things they're saying rather than in your head thinking of like, okay, well, the next question I'm going to ask is going to be this. And I'm going to start that question with these specific words. And then you're not even in the moment. So for me, it's just actually listening, interacting with

that person and following the conversation. And thank you for the kind words, Peter. I'm just trying to make these as conversational and as like fun. I want to be fun, not just for me and whoever it is I'm sitting down with, but I want them to be fun and entertaining for everybody listening too. That Clifford Myers guy at Clifford Myers on Twitter, what would you like to see more of or less of in the new year across all of pro wrestling? Oh, this is easy. Less toxicity, please.

Less toxic wrestling fans, please. And I know that that's asking way too much and it's not going to happen, but less of that, please. That's all. Wrestling fans are the best fans on the planet and are also simultaneously some of the most toxic fans on the planet. So I would love to see some more positivity and some less toxicity. And it's not going to happen, but that is my, if I had a genie in front of me, that would be

one of my pro wrestling wishes for 2024. I know that's asking for a lot, but that is what it is. Phil, ooh, how do I say, we, we met? It's O-U-I-M-E-T-E. I'm going to go with we met. Like, we? Like, yes, in French. Hey, Chris, I want to thank you for being one of the inspirations that gave me the courage to start my own podcast. Hey, congratulations. That's awesome. Here's my question. With this crazy year in pro wrestling almost over, what's a moment

that you never thought was possible that became possible this year? Look, the easy answer to that is CM Punk. Just like CM Punk, period. Because I think there's,

there's two pivotal moments here, right? One was everything that happened in the fallout of AEW and him being released from his contract fired from AEW. That's one. I didn't think that was going to happen. It really seemed like with everything that was going on in AEW that CM Punk was going to stay there.

They were going to figure out whatever issues that there actually were. And by the way, we don't know what the real issues are. We've seen reports. We don't actually know what happened there. So I assumed, and I think everybody else did, that all of that would be figured out. So that's like one A of the answer is the CM Punk being let go from AEW did not see that happening. I don't think anybody on January 1st of 2023 would have ever predicted that. And then, of course, that leads us to Survivor Series in Chicago and CM Punk returning to WWE.

I mean, the T-shirt says it all, right? Hell froze over. So I think that that's it. CM Punk is the biggest story of 2023, which is saying a lot in the same year when all the stuff happened with Vince, the WWE and UFC merger with Endeavor and TKO. Like that's obviously a massive story as well. And perhaps there's a little bit of recency bias because Survivor Series was less than a month ago.

I think that when we look back on it, there's going to be two real big stories coming out of 23, and I'm talking like 10 or 20 years from now. It's going to be CM Punk and it's going to be the acquisition, the merger with making, you know, creating TCO and everything that comes out of that. Because I think that as WWE and UFC with Endeavour continue to move forward, it's going to change a lot of things. And this is going to be a pivotal year. I think that just making like a bold prediction here, you're going to see a lot more advertising. You're already seeing a lot of advertising on WWEPLEs, but I think you're going to see even more of it integrated in the same way that UFC does it. If you watch a UFC event, everything has a sponsor. This fight clock is brought to you by this.

This round is brought to you by this. You know, there'll be 10 seconds into a round and they'll be like a lull in the action and they'll be like, don't forget to see this movie. It comes out this weekend in theaters. There's so much of that that I think. we've just gotten used to in the UFC. And I think that that's that type of stuff, those ad dollars are going to find their way into WWE. I mean, right now, fans can pay to have their name on the canvas in the UFC Octagon.

And I was one of those fans. I had my name in the Octagon, like, UFC 288. So you can see, I don't know if you actually saw my name, but I have a little piece of canvas that hangs in my office. I wouldn't be surprised if you'll have the option. at some point in time to put your name on the canvas, in the ring for the Royal Rumble or WrestleMania. So that's also going to be, I think a big story that comes out of it is whatever happens with

Endeavor. But I think the short answer is just CM Punk. So there you go, Phil. Gary Wrestling, and this is Gary with two R's, G-A-R-R-Y. Gary Wrestling says, instead of asking multiple different questions in an interview, you focus on building good relationship over good relationships over years with guests and you spread them out. How do you maintain your patience for answers to those questions knowing it could be your last interview with a guest? That's a really good one, Gary. And I don't know if I've ever thought about it

of like, oh my gosh, if I don't ask this question with this person now, I may never get to ask it again. I think you just got to try to make it as conversational as possible. And I'm always, kind of selfishly approaching these interviews of like, what do I want to know? What's something that I've always wondered, like Chris Jericho interview, perfect example. I've always wondered, what did he think about going on last after the Rock and Hogan, like, blew everybody away? I always wanted to know the answer to that. And he gave us a great response, basically being like, I didn't think we should have been the made event. I think for me, it's hard to encapsulate, especially with someone like Chris Jericho or The Undertaker, it's hard to encapsulate their entire career in an interview that only

last, what, The Undertaker interview was 20, 25 minutes. Chris Jericho, most recent, our most recent interview was an hour. It's hard to encapsulate all of that into just that, you know, one time. So as I'm saying this out loud, I almost feel like it's like a date in a way. You learn a little bit about a person on the first date. And then on the second date, you have more things to talk about. you learn a little bit more about them and you expand on some topics that you talked about last time. And then the third date, you talk about some more things and you dive into other things. And as you continue to build that relationship with them and as you continue to build that report with them, when you get to date four or five or six or 16 like it is with Dolph Ziegler,

we've had 16 interviews together, you get to a point where it's like that person trusts you and you can phrase a question in a certain way that leads to a response that maybe they've never given before. So I don't ever think about it of like, I'm only going to get these 10 topics cover to these 10 questions asked. I just kind of thinking of it as like one whole piece in itself. Is this entire conversation going to flow and feel organic? And I would like to think that the answer to that should always be yes. And then there's all. always new things to talk about. Like this interview with Jericho's are 20, we did one in 2018, 19, 2021, and now

23. So it's our fourth interview in five years. And then we did one in 2013. So way back. But there's just always new things to talk about and new angles to approach. So I'm just like, there's very rarely been a time where I've left an interview and gone, oh, I can't believe I forgot to ask them about this. it just feels like those like big topics always seem to somehow find a way to come up.

Tyler at T-Pro 83 on Twitter says, what are the two most memorable answers you've ever had from guests? And why are they so memorable for you? This is easy for me. It's like life advice too because they're just such great quotes and great answers. The first one comes from John Sina. You've probably heard me say this many times. Control the controllable.

and him talking about that idea that you can't control what other people say. You can't control what other people do. But what you can control is how you react to what other people say or what other people do. Control the controllable. That was a big one. And I'd never, I'd heard that concept before, but I'd never heard it distilled down so simply into just those three words. And that's one that has stuck with me since we did that interview at WrestleMania 35 in 2019. So that's one for sure.

and the other one is from the Rock. And it's the same interview where he gives me the middle finger on live TV on the Ballers season one red carpet in Miami. And it was him saying that the best things in life, sometimes are the things that don't happen. Because in Ballers, he plays this retired football player and is figuring life out after football. The Rock's goal, the Rock's dream in life, was to play in the NFL.

fell and didn't work out for him, right? He didn't get to live that dream. He ended up pivoting and having probably a much, much better career. But I asked him, like, if you could ever change anything, if you could go back, would you change anything so that you could accomplish that dream? And him saying, like, sometimes the best things in life are the things that don't happen, yeah, really stuck with me. And that's why I love back to the future so much. I love that idea that, like, this moment ends up leading to this thing that leads to that thing. I think about that all the time. And if you think about that in terms of the Rock's career,

it's like the NFL doesn't work out, then the CFL doesn't work out, and that leads to wrestling, and wrestling works out, and he becomes so popular there that it leads to him and his Hollywood career and so on and so on. And I think about that all the time in my life.

like if this doesn't happen, do I meet my wife, Rachel? And of course, if I don't meet Rachel, we don't have our daughter Logan. And there's all kinds of examples like this. You know, think about those stories of people who like missed their flight. And then because they missed their flight, it led to like meeting someone in the bar of the airport that ended up being their wife. Like stories like that always blow my mind. So those are the two biggest pieces of advice. slash best answers that I've ever got. It's going to be really tough to top those. But those are the ones that stick out so much for me.

Love them so much. Oh, my goodness. We are at the final question here. Thank you for all of these great questions that you've sent in here. And we're going to be doing this. I think we should do this twice a month because there's so many questions

that I didn't get to here because I try to keep these episodes close to an hour-ish in length. So, and I also want to give the best answers possible. that I can here. But thank you so much for these great questions. If you have a question of your own, send it in for Ask CVV16

using the hashtag Ask CVV. This one is from Sean Scott at Perfection 13. Ah, I like what you did there. Sean Stasiak used to have perfection. Perfection. So good. Who's your still yet to get guest

that you'd want to interview the most? As in who you'd personally like to talk to, potential clicks aside. The dream guest, you've heard me say this before, is Vince McMahon. That one seems pretty unlikely, but I'll just keep saying it because who knows, maybe it'll happen one day. I just don't feel like there's, I don't think he's going to be doing any other interviews. He did that great one with Pat McAfee, but yeah, so Vince McMahon, but there's a lot of people I haven't interviewed. Brock Lesner, Randy Orton, AJ Stiles, Kevin Owens, Sammy Zane, Our Truth, Logan, Paul, Paul. Paul Heyman, Triple H, Sean Michaels, a lot of those seem very attainable. And I think we'll cross at least one or two or three of those off the list in 2024.

But yeah, those are some people that I would love to just dive into their mind and figure out like what makes them tick. So those are definitely some of the ones on the wish list. So we'll see what happens. I feel like the art truth one, I feel like it's going to happen. Our truth is going to be on the show in 2024. sure. The other ones, I'll say one or two or three of those are going to, yeah, they'll be on the show. So there we go. My goodness. That was that, 15 questions I think we got to, 16 questions. Thank you so much for being with us. Curious to hear about your early Royal Rumble picks.

So send them over to me on Twitter or on Instagram. I would love to hear what you think is going to happen in the men's and women's Royal Rumble as we lead up to WrestleMania. But are we so good to hang out with you on these ones. I truly love being able to hang out with you one-on-one, whatever you're doing right now, whether you're driving to work or you're working out, walking the dog, just hanging out, whatever it is. I love that we're hanging out here. And I appreciate you so, so much. So we've got just a few episodes left this year. Man, I feel like this year is just flown by. I'm sitting in Orlando right now as I record this. And you might have seen on social maybe I flew here to do six interviews. One of those did not happen. That person was sick.

That would have been a really big interview. All I will say is that person was recently released from WWE and they haven't really spoken to anybody since. And we were going to have a great conversation. That one didn't happen. That will now be postponed for another time. But we did five great, great interviews here. And I can't wait for you to see them. I'll list them off right now because these are going to be interviews that you're going to be seeing soon. We had former WWE superstar Rick Boogs. And man, that guy is full of energy. My goodness. We had WWE Hall of Famer, Tori Wilson. What a fantastic conversation. And she baked us cookies. Yeah. How sweet is she? Mackenzie Mitchell was also with us. The former Brian Pillman,

who is now known as Lexus King, WWE superstar Lexus King, and Sammy Gavarra. So five great conversations that you will be seeing on the show in the next handful of weeks. I will leave you with the words of Wayne Dyer, who, I think this is a great quote

as we head into the new year with new perspective. If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. Be great and be grateful. Have an amazing, weekend. We will see you on the next one for some more insight. The Hammer Alley podcast, an 80s flashback mockumentary.

Back in the 80s, there were a thousand bands trying to make it in the world of rock, but there was one band that had it all. Hammer Alley. Whatever happened to Hammer Alley? How did they go from top of the rock? I'm looking for a music video. They're a band from 1987. Hammer Alley. Ever heard of them? To Rock Bottom.

Dude, I was born in 1987. I can't believe he's doing this. Hammer Alley. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.